Police turned out in riot gear to try to quell the violence that erupted in the neighborhoods surrounding the Pumpkin Festival in Keene Saturday.

Initial police and fire reports indicate that police and EMTs had to dodge bottles and other debris from the hostile crowd as they tried to tend to the injured.

Stephanie Konopka of Swanzey was visiting the festival with her 12-year-old daughter Saturday afternoon, and said her car was surrounded by a mob of hundreds of college age students while driving down Winchester Street at about 2 p.m.

With pumpkin season in full swing, many Granite Staters are enjoying baked goods, snacks, and beverages flavored with this signature fall fruit. And then, of course, there's the annual rite of pumpkin carving. Weekend Edition host Amanda Loder talked with TheHeart of New England e-magazine's Marcia Passos Duffy about how to wring pumpkin flavor out of post-Halloween jack-o-lantern remains.